My favorite Binghamton place is actually a neighborhood sports bar that's stuck in the '70s!! The owner has a chef cooking there who produces amazing, non-sports bar food. The whole experience is a trip!! It is called Sach's and is on a side street (Hazel St.) in the north side. My other favorites in the area are Consol's (primarily Italian) and Thai Basil both in Endicott.Burger Mondays ("gourmet" burgers) and the Lost Dog Cafe are a couple of good choices in downtown Binghamton. Escape State Street (also downtown) is a very good lunch-type place that is open late. The Riverwalk Bistro (newly opened downtown) sounds promising but I haven't made it there yet.

In Oneonta, there are a couple of decent places (Autumn Cafe, Ruffino's) on Main Street. Sabatini's on the Rt. 23 strip has good Italian. Stella Luna and The Farmhouse are a couple of other well regarded places that I haven't tried yet. There are also two good coffee houses on Main Street that are worth checking out if you like java.

Brooks BBQ is somewhat a classic in our neck of the woods. They do a lot of catering in a fairly wide area with their chicken BBQ, which uses the Cornell recipe for BBQ chicken (Google that if you have not heard of that) Unfortunately, I find their basic BBQ sauce for pork and beef to be very sweet and cloying.

The only thing I can remember of note in Oneonta is Brooks. It really does have a reputation up there, although I wouldn't go as far as saying amazing bbq. Hits the spot though. It is just past the Price Chopper on Main street/Route 7.